Removable sink dividing paratition



P 1953 L. G. JOHNSON ETAL 2,551,784

REMOVABLE SINK DIVIDING PARTITION Filed 001;. 29, 1951 INVENTORS Lemar dE vlnhns n11 Charlas 5 ulmhn'a cm.

ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 15, 1953 OFFICE REMOVABLE SINK DIVIDINGPARTITION Leonard G. Johnson and Charles S. Johnson,

Springfield, Oreg.

Applicationoctober 29, 1951, Serial No. 253,632

4 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a removable sink dividing partition and hasfor an object to provide a partition for temporarily dividing orseparating a conventional sink into two compartments so that water maybe placed in either of the two compartments irrespective of the presenceor absence of water in the other of the two compartmerits.

Nowadays, many sinks are provided having two compartments therein sothat dishes may be washed in one compartment of the sink and then rinsedin the other compartment. This is a decided advantage, but is onlyavailable in homes where the two compartment sink is already installed,and can be provided in other homes only by an expensive lumbing job ofdiscarding the conventional one compartment sink and replacing it with atwo compartment sink. With this invention, however, it becomes possibleto provide the advantage of the two compartment sink Without anyplumbing expense by removably placing the sink dividing partition ofthis invention in operative position to divide the sink into twocompartments and then after the dishwashing operation is finished, toeasily remove the partition from the sink and permit the water behindsuch partition to drain away in the usual manner to the sewer. The sizeof the compartment provided by this partition is optional with thehousewife, and the sink may be divided into two equal compartments ortwo unequal compartments so as to make the compartments of the sizedesired by the housewife.

Obviously more than two compartments can be provided if desired by usingmore than one partition. This is particularly true in the case of a verylarge sink, but even the conventional size sink is usually large enoughto be divided into two compartments by means of the partition of thisinvention so that one side may be used for soaping and washing thedishes and the other side may be used for rinsing the dishes.

A further object of this invention is to provide a removable sinkdividing partition which bythe very act of being put into positionprovides an impermeable separating wall. between the two compartmentsand which may be readily installed and removed by the average housewife.

A further object of this invention is to provide a removable sinkdividing partition and a removable means for securing the partition influid tight contact with the bottom and side walls of the. sink so thatwater may not pass from one side thereof to the other.

A further object of this invention is to provide a sink dividingpartition and means for remov- 2 ably securing such partition in a sinkwhich seecuring means includes a means for clamping over the top corneredges of the partition and securing the same to the sink to hold thepartition in position.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide a means forsecuring the partition in position in the sink, the means cooperatingeither with the sink edges or the sink walls and removably attachingthereto, such securing means being preferably in the form of a clampinghook to attach over the edge of the sink when the sink has suchavailable edges, and which may be in the form of a vacuum cup or aplurality of vacuum cups particularly for use when the edges oi'the sinkare concealed or built in a sink counter or when the sink has a highsplash board integrally extending therefrom or when the partition is ofless depth than the height of the side walls of the sink.

A further object of this invention is to provide a sink dividingpartition and means for securing it in a sink wherein the sink is of aconventional type having the usual smooth bottom and side walls andwherein the securing means does not have to be permanently attached tothe sink or be a permanent and integral part of the sink.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, this invention comprisesthe combination, construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter r setforth, claimed and disclosed in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a sectional View transversely of a sink showing the removablesink dividing partition of this invention in position therein.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 22 of fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional View on line 33 of Fig. l on a larger scale.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view through an upper edge corner of the partitionand securing means, being on line 4-4 of Fig. 6,.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on line 5 5 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a detail fragmentary view on line tfi of Fig. 4, and

Fig. 7 is a. perspective view of a sink edge partition securing clamp.

There is shown at N a conventional one compartment sink having its usualbottom wall H, front side wall I 2 and rear side wall it each providedwith a top flanged edge i4 and i5, and having the usual plumbing drain I5 through the bottom wall H and the usual end walls (not shown) similarto, the side walls. Also shown is the removable. sink dividing partitionll of this invention which when in. position as shown in Fig. 1 dividesthe usual single compartment in the 3 sink l into two separatecompartments, one on each side of the partition I1, and as a result ofthis invention, either or both compartments may have water thereinirrespective of the presence or absence of water in the other of thecompartments.

The partition H of this invention consists of a rigid plane member |8which may be of hard rubber or other suitable non-yielding impermeableplastic material and provided with a bottom boundary portion 29 andfront and back boundary portions 2| and 22 made of readily compressiblebut impermeable sponge rubber or similar material. These boundaryportions 20, 2| and 22 may be secured to the rigid portion l8 by atongue and groove joint with suitable cement as shown or may bevulcanized thereto as may be convenient, or any other suitable joint maybe provided.

The boundary portions 20, 2| and 22 may be of conventional sponge rubberprovided with an impermeable coating 23 formed thereabout, or may be ofcellular sponge rubber which is per se nonabsorbent of water and henceimpermeable and is provided with an outer impermeable coating at 23.

The upper edges of the side boundary portions 2| and 22 merge into upperedge corners 24 and 25 made of a less compressible live hard rubber andconnected across the top of the panel at 26 by similar material. Therigid plane member |8 plus its boundary portions 2| and 22 at the frontand back sides and boundary portion 20 at the bottom side now of a sizethat is slightly larger than the size of the sink l0 into which it is tobe placed so that when placed in position and held in position by thesuitable securing means about to be described, the front and back sideboundary portions and bottom boundary portions will compress somewhatagainst the insides and bottom of the sink in so as to provide animpermeable leak proof contact with the sink and prevent water frompassing from one side of the partition to the other so long as thepartition I! is held in position.

A suitable means for holding the partition IT in position consists of aclamp 21 made of spring steel and having a hook lip 28 of a size toyieldably slip over the sink edge M, a looped end 30 extending over thetop of the front or back sink side l2 or |3 so that it will pressdownwardly in abutting relation against the top of the corners 24 and 25of the partition IT. The width of the clamp 21 will be substantiallyequal to the thickness of the partition H, and a bolt and nut 3| will beplaced through the looped clamped end 30 so as to provide dependingflanges 32 on opposite ends of the looped end 30 and thus form aninverted U-shaped keeper cooperating with the top and adjacent sideedges of the hard live rubber boundary corners 2d and 25 to hold thepartition I? in operative position.

In operation, to install the partition H in position in the sink l9,first one clamp 21 is placed over the rear ledge of the sink l0, and thepartition l'. is placed down in the sink with the boundary corner 25abutting under the clamp I"! on the rear ledge l5. Then a second clamp21 is placed in suitable position over the front sink ledge it whileholding the partition IT in position in the sink until its keeperportion 32 snaps into operative position over the front boundary corner24 thus holding partition H in operative position with the readilycompressible boundary portions 4 thereunder from one side to the other.The sink then may be used as a conventional two compartment sink,washing dishes on one side thereof and then rinsing them on the otherside.

Obviously, it will be placed to one side or the other of the plumbingdrain l8 so that one compartment formed thereby will have no access tothe drain l6 while the partition is in position. After the dishwashingoperation is finished, the water in the compartment not having a drainmay be removed therefrom by merely removing one of the clamps,permitting the partition to be removed and allowing the water to flowtoward the drain l6. Obviously, any suitable means may be provided forsecuring the inverted U-shaped keeper portion 32 in position, and if therear of the sink has a high splash board, and its edge is not at thesuitable height for the rear corner 25', instead of using a hook clamp28, the clamp 21 may be attached to such high splash board portion bymeans of a suitable vacuum cup or pair of vacuum cups to which thekeeper portion 32 may be attached.

If the entire sink has its edges concealed in a sink counter, a vacuumcup attached keeper may be used at both the front and rear boundarycorners 24 and 25. Likewise vacuum cup mounted keepers may be used ifthe partition I1 is of a less vertical height than the height of thesink l0.

As a result of this invention, any existing conventional sink may havean extra compartment temporarily provided therein whenever desired bymerel adding the partition I to be held in position by means f thekeeper portions 32 mounted either on a hook as shown or secured to thesink walls by a vacuum cup or otherwise. N0 permanent alteration isnecessary to be made in the construction of the sink, and it may beinstalled and removed by the housewife as often as needed with nodifficulty.

Obviously, the partition I! of this invention may be made in as manydifferent sizes as there are different sizes of conventional onecompartment sinks, and any sink may have an extra compartment providedtherein by the use of the partition of this invention.

While the device has been shown and the structure described in detail,it is obvious that this invention is not to be considered as beinglimited to the exact form disclosed, and that changes in detail andconstruction may be made therein within the scope of what is claimed,without cleparting from the spirit of this invention.

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention, whatis claimed is:

1. A partition for compartmentalizing a sink or the like having fluidimpermeable bottom and side and end walls, said partition comprising animpermeable plane member and means for removably securing saidimpermeable plane member in a vertical plane transversely in the sinkwith the bottom and side edges of the plane member in impermeablecontact with the bottom and side walls of the sink to thereby divide thesink into two compartments, said impermeable plane member comprising arigid member having readily compressible impermeable bottom and sideboundary portions, said readily compressible side boundary portionsmerging into less compressible upper corner portions, said upper cornerportions and a connecting upper boundary portion being of hard liverubber, said side and bottom boundary portions being of impermeablesponge rubber, said rigid member being of hard rubber.

2. A partition for compartmentalizing a sink or the like having fluidimpermeable bottom and side and end walls, said partition comprising animpermeable plane member and means for removably securing saidimpermeable plane member in a vertical plane transversely in the sinkwith the bottom and side edges of the plane member in impermeablecontact with the bottom and side walls of the sink to thereby divide thesink into two compartments, said impermeable plane member comprising arigid member having readily compressible impermeable bottom and sideboundary portions, said readily compressible side boundary portionsmerging into less compressible upper corner portions, said upper cornerportions being of hard live rubber, said side and bottom boundaryportions bein of impermeable sponge rubber, said rigid member being ofhard rubber, said removable securing means including an inverted Uportion arranged to abut over the top and side edges of said uppercorner portions of said plane member.

3. A partition for compartmentalizing a boxlike container having fluidimpermeable bottom and side and end walls, said partition comprising animpermeable plane member and means for removably securing saidimpermeable plane member in a vertical plane transversely in thecontainer with the bottom and side edges of the plane member inimpermeable contact with the bottom and side walls of the container tothereby divide the container into two compartments, said impermeableplane member comprising a rigid member having readily compressibleimpermeable bottom and side boundary portions, said readily compressibleside boundary portions merging into less compressible upper cornerportions, said upper corner portions being of hard 6 live rubber, saidside and bottom boundary portions being of impermeable sponge rubber,said rigid member being of hard rubber.

4. A partition for compartmentalizing a boxlike container having fluidimpermeable bottom and side and end walls, said partition comprising animpermeable plane member and means for removably securing saidimpermeable plane member in a vertical plane transversely in thecontainer with the bottom and side edges of the plane member inimpermeable contact with the bottom and side walls of the container tothereby divide the container into two compartments, said impermeableplane member comprising a rigid member having readily compressibleimpermeable bottom and side boundary portions, said readily compressibleside boundary portions merging into less compressible upper cornerportions, said upper corner portionse being of hard live rubber, saidside and bottom boundary portions being of impermeable sponge rubber,said rigid member being of hard rubber, said removable securing meanscomprisin an inverted U portion arranged to abut over the top and sideedges of said upper corner portions of said plane member and means forremovably mounting said inverted U portion on the container side wallcomprising a yieldable clamp adapted to be hooked on the container sidewall edge.

LEONARD G. JOHNSON. CHARLES S. JOHNSON.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,051,741 Litton Jan. 28, 1913 2,109,089 Moyes Feb. 22, 1938

